


Grief Is Our Price For Love

by FrankieParkerWinchester



Category: Marvel, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-05-28
Updated: 2016-05-27
Packaged: 2018-07-10 15:47:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,091
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6992035
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FrankieParkerWinchester/pseuds/FrankieParkerWinchester
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>(Set before Civil War fyi)</p>
<p>A girl with special powers, deadly powers actually, not really "special", fights against becoming an Avenger.  But what happens when someone she knows gets involved with dark magic, and wants to rule the world with her?  What happens when the Avengers ask her to help them, and to think about joining them?  And what happens to her when she discovers something within herself she wished she never had?  Well, what do you think happens to someone whose life is taking that kind of turn?  They certainly don't hide and wait for everyone else to solve their problems, no, they get up and face them head on, not caring about their chances of living.<br/>Welcome to the story of Dany Cade, otherwise known as the girl who can melt your brain.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Grief Is Our Price For Love

 

Oh, so I guess this is the part where I tell you who I am and all that.  Probably even starting off this with a short backstory…

               Nah, that’d be to cliché, this is going to start past all that.  Past the part where I go into details about my life up until the part where I meet the Avengers.  We’re just going to ignore those few things for right now.

               No see, this is starting at the part where it gets absolutely horrible…the part where I get the ultimate life-ruiner, or as I like to call it, my sex-be-gone ability (abilities, actually).  You see, my mother is a health freak, and so every time she comes over, she’s always bringing special drinks and shit.  However, this time she visited me in New York, she decided to bring me fish oil pills.  And me being me, (curious as hell), I took one.  Little did I know I was going to get covered in this stone-like crust, that shattered after a few minutes. 

               Well, being as freaked out as I was, I told no one what happened.  Not even my boyfriend Kyle (now ex).  Or girlfriend (after Kyle, also now an ex).  Looking back, I realize now that I must have known something was wrong when I woke up to find Kyle half dead next to me.  At the hospital, the doctors told me and his family that they had no idea what happened, but his heart rate was very slow, and to not be scared of the blood that is running out of his eyes, nose, ears, and mouth.  They also took me aside and asked if he was taking any combinations of drugs, to which I said no, and asked why, the doctors response was that it seems that there are small chunks of brain matter that is, or was, oozing out with the blood. 

               However, the first time I truly realized that something was wrong with me was when I was with Siena; we were having some bedroom fun, when she pushed me away while holding her head.  I quickly moved back closer asking her what was wrong.  The only answer I got was a whimper, slowly turning into a scream, I instantly jumped back, slamming against the wall opposite the bed when I saw blood drip out from her ear and onto her neck.  Then I noticed the blood dripping from her hands as she pressed them to her eyes.  I scrambled from the wall and out of the bedroom, searching for my cell (which was on the table) and dialed 9-1-1. 

               And just like Kyle, we split up just weeks after.  However, Siena only lost a minor amount of blood, but still enough to keep her in the hospital for a little over a week.

               I quickly figured out that incidents like those only happen when me and my partner are so caught up in the moment.  The only reason Kyle was half dead was because we fell asleep quickly after we finished, and I hadn’t noticed the blood, and neither had he apparently.

               See?  Didn’t I tell you we were going to start at the worst part for me?  Well now let’s skip a few months, and skip the other incidents like Siena’s, and jump to the part where I move so far that the Stark tower is standing tall against the horizon outside of each of my windows in my small apartment.  (We’re also skipping to the part where I discover that I can do more than just the mind-melting thing.)

               So about a month or two after I moved, I discovered that I’m quite good at being really quiet, and I’ve learned that I can tell when something is going to hurt me.  I’ve also discovered that I have a pretty cool healing ability; I had sliced open my palm while shopping up some fruit, stuck it under running water for a few seconds, then watched in amazement as the wound slowly healed itself. 

               Now that all of that is out of the way, let’s get into the part where I save a certain superhero using a power that I had no idea I had…

 

~)O(~

 

               It started when there was that huge fight on the streets of New York, that damaged the Stark tower, leaving the ‘A’ still attached.  There was a species of aliens, the Chitauri, that invaded Earth through a portal in the sky on top of the Stark tower.  The cameras caught Captain America, Black Widow, and Hawkeye all fighting on the ground.  But what they didn’t catch was the part when a particular group of Chitauri caught Captain America off guard, knocking him straight into a building—a bank, to be exact.  The made sure to stay a distance away from him, only shooting at him with their weird spear-guns.  It was when Captain America was hit in the back of the head with the blue blast from the spear-gun that I felt like I had to get involved, or else he might actually die.

               And so I dived in through a broken window, glass spraying everywhere around me as I rolled onto my knees.  I looked around the room, counting the amount of aliens I was about to take on.  Seven.  The closest one lifted up the spear-gun, but I hastily jumped to my feet and grabbed onto the pole and ducked under it, letting it rest on my shoulder, wincing when the blast echoed in my left ear; I landed a punch to its stomach and the alien went flying backwards.

               _Interesting…_ I thought, _I don’t even have to touch them._   I bent backwards to avoid the next blast, and spin kicked into its feet, knocking it to the ground.  The other five Chitauri decided that they needed to join in, and so they advanced towards where I was, sitting on the alien with the tips of my fingers touching where its cheekbones would’ve been if it were human.  I could feel that one of the aliens was about to fire a blast right at the back of my head, however, it didn’t expect me to swiftly maneuver myself around, knocking the spear-gun out of its hands, and into mine. 

               I shot the five Chitauri, shot the sixth (just to be sure), dropped the spear-gun, and put my fingers right back onto the Chitauri’s face.  It started to squirm violently, blood seeped out of its eyes, then out from its mouth, and then from the sides of its head where ears would be.  I could feel blood dripped down my jawline, but I didn’t pull away until it stopped moving.  When I was sure it was dead, I swung my leg over its body from where I was straddling its very small chest, and walked over to the unconscious Captain America.  I bent beside his waist, my knees hitting the cold—and slightly cracked—marble floor.  I stared at his chest until I saw it rise and fall with his irregular breathing pattern.

               I put one hand on his shoulder, and the other on his jaw, and turned his head to face me.  His eyes fluttered open, I gave him a small smile.

               “You’re welcome.” I said quietly.  “Now I think you need to get back out there.” I moved away from him, slowly, the three inch heels of my boots clicking against the marble and crunching glass with ever step.

               “Who are you?” His voice rang out in the wide open room.  A Chitauri was thrown into the building, smacking against the other wall and standing instantly, and noticed me.  All I did was throw my hand up (palm open) until it was level with my shoulder, and watched as the alien hit the wall once again, but this time didn’t get to its feet.

               “I’m no one important.” I stopped, and turned just enough to see the Captain rise to his feet.  “Go save the world big guy.  It’s in need of it.”  When I exited the building, I quickly ducked into a small alley, that you wouldn’t notice unless you were right on top of it.  I could hear the fighting going on, but I stayed there, far enough away that I wouldn’t get caught in the cross hairs, but close enough that if I heard that something went wrong, I would be able to help.

 

~)O(~

 

Alright, now that that is out of the way, we can get into the part where I meet the Avengers for a second time.  However, this time, I ended up saving innocent citizens rather than one of the heroes.

               I had just started work at a small diner just over two blocks away from my apartment building, when there was a bunch of screams; I looked out the window and saw this huge _thing_ up in the sky.  If I was inane, I would’ve said it looked like a dragon, but it wasn’t scaled, it seemed almost metallic in the bright sunlight.  I discovered the reason to the peoples screaming when it opened its gigantic jaws and spewed out fire.

_Awesome,_ I thought, _it breathes fire._   I jumped back from the window when someone on a motorcycle zoomed past, along with someone flying beside it—and after getting really close to the glass and looking, you could tell exactly who the two people were, and that there were more coming out of a jet in the sky. 

               One man, who I recognized as Doctor Banner, was ushering people to safety; and the safest place right now seemed to be the diner. 

               “What’s happening?” One woman asked Banner.

               “It’s alright, they can handle this.” Banner stated.

               “What if they can’t handle this?” A burly man asked.

               “Then I guess the other guy comes out.” Was all Banner said before walking out of the diner to get more people.  I pushed my way past back to the window, and saw Captain America throw his shield at the metal dragon, only to see the shield bounce right off and start flying towards the window of the diner.

               “Everyone duck!” I shouted, people screamed as they hit the floor when the shield broke through the glass, I spun until my back hit the wall next to the window, covering my face with my arms as glass went flying everywhere.  I lowered my arms and stared at where the shield was lodged firmly into the wall.  I walked around the people and gently touched the shield that was still vibrating from the impact.  I slid my right arm through the straps attached to the shield, and jerked the shield out of the wall.  Most of the people stared in awe as I did that, they must’ve assumed that someone with super strength would only be able to pull out the shield (little did they know, I have an advanced strength—basically I’m about as strong as Captain America). 

               People moved them out of my way as I walked out of the diner, the shield firmly held in my hand.  I could hear Banner yelling at me, until he noticed what exactly was in my hand.  The dragon seemed to like breathing fire more than it enjoyed sweeping its overly large tail into buildings. 

               The dragon must’ve noticed me standing there, cause the next thing I knew, it was coming closer and opening its mouth.  I held up the shield as fire came rushing out, the shield was getting hotter, turning as red as the color on the other side.  I was able to hold onto the shield because of my healing factor, but its not like it didn’t burn me.  My entire right arm was angrily red, and bubbling s I lowered the shield.  I could feel the stares of the Avengers on me as I stood there.  I heard one of them yell at me to run to safety; I didn’t, I should’ve, but I didn’t. 

               I guess that you could say I no longer cared about keeping it a secret about what I could do, because what happened next, happened fast, and is a little fuzzy as I look back on it. 

               I remember walking forwards, closer to the dragon, nearing where Captain America was lying (he had to jump and roll out of the way of a falling building).  I remember throwing my left hand up, and dropping the shield in a way that made it roll to Captain America.  I remember picturing the energy that the dragon was creating, in and around it.  I remember latching onto the energy, the dragon’s movements stopping altogether, and I remember throwing my hand to the ground, the dragon following and slamming into the paved road. 

               This is the part where I don’t remember much, all I really remember is putting my hand onto the head of the dragon, feeling the warm metal under my palm.  The scary thing that I can remember about the dragon, was that it had a brain.  Like, a real _human_ brain.  The last thing I remember is watching as some sort of liquid poured out from its eyes, and the eyes had looked so _real_ , and feeling blood drip down from my nose and out of my mouth.  Then, well, then it goes black.  And the next thing I know, I’m waking up in a small twin sized bed, with white sheets that smell too much like bleach.  And there’s someone talking to someone outside the door, and maybe ten or so feet away.  I’m able to climb out of the bed silently, making sure to listen for the people’s conversation ending.  And right as I make it to the window, they stop talking.  So I know now that I have maybe ten seconds to get out.  Eight: they’re getting closer, still talking, as I unlatch the window.  Five: I’ve got one leg dangling out of the window, the door is opening.  One: they’re inside, and I’m hanging onto a flagpole outside the window after reaching with my bare feet to close the window.  I can hear them freaking out.  I have probably a few more seconds to get off this pole before someone looks out the window.  There’s a small three-inch ledge about twenty feet below me.

               I let go of the pole.

               I barely catch myself with my hands on the ledge. 

               I drop to the ground (maybe twenty-five feet?), and sprint across the open yard.  _I have to get out of here._   There’s someone standing at the entrance of the hospital gate ( _what hospital has a gate?_ ).  She’s no security guard.  Certainly isn’t dressed like one.  Shit.  She saw me.  She’s running in heels, and I’m barefoot, she’s wearing a leather suit with a bunch of stuff attached to it and I’m wearing blue scrubs and a white tank.  Definitely not something to fight in.  Oh well.  Before she has a chance to grab me, I land a roundhouse kick to her jaw, successfully knocking her to the ground.  And I’m running again, but not before I hear her talking into some ear-piece.  “Alright, I’m doing this my way Cap.”

               And the next thing I know, she’s right there and knocking me to the ground. 

               “Had you not have hit me; I wouldn’t’ve hit you.” She says, and so I make sure to give her a nice retort.

               “That was you?” I manage to throw her off me, and land another kick, this time directed at her stomach.  I don’t even touch her and she goes flying back. “You need to try harder.”  I see her get up, so I focus on the energy surrounding myself, and the energy coming from her.  And right as she’s about to grab my shoulder, I’m throwing what I like to call an energy-punch to her gut.  My hand stopping inches from her, the energy-punch is the one thing I enjoy using.  I don’t actually hit the people, the energy that they produce, or my own energy is what hits them, and it’s something that can be either extremely powerful, or something that can do just enough damage to distract the enemy.  Like what I did to her. 

               She goes flying backwards, and rolls when she hits the ground.  I wince when she stops moving.  I take a tentative step closer to her, but when she moves to get up, I turn in the other direction and run.  I’m sliding through the metal-pole gate by the time she’s on her feet with Tony Stark and Steve Rogers standing next to her. 

 

~)O(~

 

               There is a third time when I have a run-in with the Avengers; although this time isn’t brought upon by aliens or metal dragons.  It’s weeks later when I’m walking to my new job (another diner, this time further from my apartment building), and there’s two men, both wearing baseball caps and wraparound sunglasses, dark jackets, and leaning against the brick wall with their hands in their jacket pockets; one’s inches shorter than the other, and the other is much more built than the shorter.  If I didn’t know any better, I wouldn’t’ve recognized them as Tony Stark and Steve Rogers, but I do, and I did.  Plus, there’s one guy standing alone, much closer to me, wearing a leather jacket, who looks a lot like Hawkeye (which he is, as I realize when I get a little closer).  The red-headed woman I took down outside the hospital is having a conversation with the leather jacket man.  She’s the one who sees me first.  She’s also the one who starts the chase. 

               Running through the streets of New York isn’t an easy task; there’s either too many people, or too little.  And as I’m running, I have to constantly look behind me to see just how close they are, and try not to knock anyone to the ground.  Steve Rogers has already lost his sunglasses and hat, Tony Stark had called his Iron Man suit, and is currently flying above me, and Steve is gaining. 

_I have to get out of this…_

               Running at full speed while trying to find a way out of this chase also isn’t easy.  But one idea comes to mind, and it will certainly take them all by surprise.  But there is the very high chance that it won’t work.  But every risky idea is always worth a shot.  And so I do it; I come to a complete stop and turn around, now facing Steve, who’s slowing down.  I hear Iron Man land somewhere behind me.  When Steve is no longer running, but walking quite fast towards me, I run.  Full speed (which is quite fast), towards the muscled man, which takes him—and the other two Avengers—completely by surprise, so much that they stop running/walking.  Hawkeye stops closer to me than Steve, and so I dodge him easily.  Steve however manages to grab onto my arm before I can get past; I swing at him, but he catches my other arm, and so I swing my leg up onto his shoulder, bending my knee behind his neck, which pulls him closer to me, and I turn my body to the left, taking the two of us to the ground.  I twist out of his grip, and roll away, only for the woman to lunge at me.  I roll again, and kick out my leg, hitting her in the hip, and I land another kick, this time to Steve’s shoulder, successfully knocking him back to the ground.  I scramble to get my legs under myself, and claw at the ground as I start off running before I’m even standing. 

               This time, as I run, I don’t look behind me.  I stare straight forward, as Iron Man once again flies above me.  I’m starting to get quite annoyed, why must they keep this up? 

               As I turn the corner, I see some young guy knock an elderly lady to the ground as he runs off with her purse.  He’s not running fast, nor is he looking behind himself, and I’m gaining on him.  So I decide that since I’m right on his tail, I might as well take him out.  So I’m jumping onto a small cart that’s trying to sell fruit, and then I’m leaping off that and onto his back, my legs wrapping around his neck, and I’m spinning us around landing one hard punch to this guy’s face then using his body I’m jumping off him and back into my run as I hear Steve yelling at the woman to take care of the guy.

               I can hear Steve gaining on me quickly, and so I make a hard left right into the road.  Jumping onto the hood of a big green SUV, before it rams into me, then I’m jumping from car to car, before landing onto an eighteen wheeler, and sticking with it.  I can see the super solider running after me, so I blow him a kiss before jumping off the truck and grabbing onto the foot of Iron Man.  Who’s now shouting at me to ‘get off’ and shaking his leg.  He’s also talking with someone on his communication device, and taking the two of us higher into the air.

               When I look down, I decide that this would be a good time to hop off; I land onto the roof top of a large building, possibly an office building.  With Iron Man right on my heels.

               As he’s advancing towards me, I’m backing away (the door to the stairs is behind him) saying, “I’m not going to fight you.”

               “You’ve already fought everyone else, so why not me?” He says, then shoots out a repulsor.  I dodge as I run to the stairwell entrance, sliding under his legs, and elbowing the joint in the metal foot where the ankle would be, tripping Iron Man and distracting him.  I’m running through the door by the time he’s running after me.  On each floor I’m jumping the railings and sliding down them, before I hit the tenth floor, with Tony Stark running (out of his suit) down the stairs.  It’s when I hear the bottom floor entrance open and slam close that I stop running.  There’s a second voice—Tony’s mumbling as he’s running—coming closer, which I recognize as Steve Rogers.  And so on the eight floor I’m running through the door, and past the elevators, and into an office board room, that is currently full of people having what might have been an important meeting. 

               “Uh, hi?” Is all I say before I jump out the window, crash landing onto the small brick building roof, and slicing open just about every body part.  As I’m running to the stairwell door, I take a quick look at myself, and see that the cuts have yet to heal, and there’s so much blood all on the roof, and dripping off of me, that it makes me realize _why_ I haven’t healed yet.  I’ve hit an artery.  A quick look and touch gives me an idea as to where and which artery has been sliced.  My left leg is pouring blood from a rather large two or three-inch gash on my thigh, and so is my right forearm (there’s a large tilted vertical line that’s about four to five inches long and half an inch wide, and my right boot feels like there’s blood puddling inside.

               There’s another small crunching noise and Steve’s right there, and now I’m back to running, although much slower, down the stairs leaving quite a large trail of blood on each step. 

               “You’re injured!” Steve’s voice echoes in the small stairwell. “Stop running and we can help you!”

               “I don’t need help,” I mumble under my breath, clutching my arm to my chest, ignoring the feeling of blood seeping into my shirt.  I’m pretty sure they’re healing, but I don’t think they are because of the amount of energy it’s taking me to keep running at a fast pace.  I probably should’ve mentioned that my healing factor takes energy to work, which normally means that my energy control ability doesn’t work as well if I’m injured, nor the other way around.

               Steve’s gaining.  And I’m realizing that I’m slowing down a considerable amount.  I’m pretty sure that I’m going to crash down these stairs, and end up waking in a hospital, handcuffed to the bed.  I’m on the second floor when Steve’s on the fourth, and the first floors stairs are really long for a small building, meaning that there’s a one floor basement.

               It’s when I move to run down these stairs that the lights almost seem to dim, and the stairs look like they’re moving.  It takes three seconds to realize that I’m no longer running, but falling down the stairs.  By the time I hit the bottom, I can feel myself healing, and Steve’s voice shouting a level above me for a medical bus.  He seems to have stopped running, and is talking with someone over his comms, so I crawl my way to the basement door, and use the knob to pull myself to my feet.  I’m still pouring blood, but it’s slowing, so I slip inside, just in time to see Steve sigh, and jog down the stairs.  As the door swings open, I’m standing behind the door in a corner, and he’s walking away, further into the barely lit basement.

               “Yeah, if she’s bleeding this much, I’ll find her down here, but it’ll be close.” His voice doesn’t exactly echo, but it does seem rather loud.  Before the door closes, I’m slipping through and walking to the other door, under the second floor stairs, and into the entrance of the apartment building.  Before anyone notices me, I’m inside the ladies room (one person at a time kind of room), and locking the door.  There’s a voice outside the door that sounds a lot like the red head, walking past, talking with someone else.

 

~)O(~

 

               I’m dripping blood all over the floor as I pace, waiting for the wounds to be fully healed, or at least healed enough that I can start running again.  But there’s more voices, S.H.I.E.L.D workers I believe, outside and someone’s knocking at the door.  Asking why there’s blood on the floor outside the door, I pitch my voice and answer the woman, saying that I just made it to the bathroom too late, and adding dresses suck, getting a hell yeah in response.  There’s a small window located above the sink, but the type of sink this building’s got most likely will not hold me up.  However, there is a ventilation shaft, but there’s no way to reach it.  So I guess the window is my best bet, but there’s no way I can go out in public looking like I do: tight jeans sticking to me annoyingly with blood, my red and black leather-sided peplum shirt soaked in blood, and my brown suede wedged boots squelching with each step.  But the only way out is through the window, and no one is in the alley—or so I can tell.

               So I guess I’m taking the window out.  I can hear Tony Stark outside the door, talking loudly with Steve Rogers. 

               It’s when I’m pushing myself out of the window that the sink breaks loudly, and someone’s asking what that noise was, and then there’s banging on the door, before it’s being broken down, but by then I’m already out and rolling to my feet.  I know that I’ve got less than five seconds before someone is in the alley, and so now I find myself climbing up a fire escape, and shimmying open an unlocked window of the apartment building behind the one I was just in. 

               It's definitely a woman’s room, judging by the pink and red walls.  I can hear commotion outside the window as I wander through the apartment. 

               I know I shouldn’t, but I grab one of the backpacks lying in the hall, strip down to my underwear, then proceed to shove my clothes into the bag, my shoes and socks along with everything else.  I then walk into the bedroom, and search through the closet to find something to wear.  Going to the back of her closet, there are many different pants, so I grab the closest one—which just so happens to be one of the leather skinny’s.  And I take one of her blue tank tops, pulling them on, I shuffle my way out of her room as I slip into her half-size-too-small combat boots, and back over to the window, but not before grabbing a hair tie off her desk.  I can see many Shield agents outside, looking for blood, or anything that’ll tell them where I went.  I duck down when I see Steve Rogers walk into the alley accompanied by the other Avengers.  I’m peeking just above the bottom of the window when he points to the window.

_He doesn’t see me…_ I think as he talks to other agents, still pointing to the window.  _Time to go._ The agents he was talking to follow him to the fire escape.  I shuffle back and make my way to the door, checking my body for any bleeding wounds—which, luckily, seemed to have closed up before I got inside. 

               Pulling my hair into a messy ponytail, I walk down the hallway to the elevators with the backpack slung across one shoulder.  I look down at what I took from whoever’s closet; the pants don’t exactly go with the tank, but it’s something that shouldn’t get in the way for any reason. 

               I’m exiting the elevator when I pass by Stark, who’s getting onto the other elevator.  We lock eyes for half a second before the doors close, and then there’s a small thud, and I’m walking outside.  I don’t hear them coming after me, so it’s safe to assume that they haven’t gotten off the elevator yet.  It’s when I make it across the street when I see them exit, however, they haven’t seen me, so I quickly duck into the nearest alleyway and start using those to get away.  Hiding only when I hear the noise of the Iron Man suit above me.

               It’s after dark by the time I make it back to my apartment.  However, the real fun starts the next morning, the exact moment I wake up...


End file.
